9 Months in Norway, Part 2

[Dreadhead]

Last September me and my partner Fionn set off on a journey through Norway and Sweden. A report of part 1 can be found HERE. We flew home for several weeks over xmas to visit family and friends but soon headed back out to Norway in early January. This is part two of our adventure

So part two begins in Bergen! I won’t bother with pictures of a city, but I will say it is the only city I have ever felt comfortable in. It has a real atmosphere thick with history and trade we really enjoyed spending a few days going around the museums and heading up the hills over the city. Here are just a couple of pictures we took looking down over Bergen

Bergen
Bergen 1 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Bergen 2 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr


Tysseland

Our first farm of the year was Tysseland Farm, roughly an hour or so east of Bergen near a place called Tysse. A bus journey winding through snowy mountains and over icy fjords gave us our first real taste of this region. We got off the bus where we had been told by the host, and were met by another wwoofer called Clemens, from Germany. He drove us over to the farm and filled us in with the day to day of the farm. It turned out that our host, Michael, only came by once every week or so. For the next 6 weeks we pretty much ran the farm and saw Michael only a handful of times.

So here we were, in a huge farm house that could fit 3 families in, with just Clemens for company. There was a small flock of seven sheep of an old Norwegian breed, and four highland cattle. Michael owned some portions of forest and the odd field too. Our work was to care for the livestock, and create as much firewood for him as possible. In between we spent our time as we pleased, often going hiking or making/fixing things


1 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

2 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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After a week or so Clemens decided to move on to another farm. He had stayed long enough to pass on the running of the farm to us so that we could in turn teach the next wwoofers. We bid him farewell and spent several weeks just the two of us getting into the swing of things. Every day we would feed the livestock then head up the forest. I would fell several large spruce or pines and cut them into logs. We would load them up on the truck, and Fionn would drive us back down to the farm. We would unload them, and then I would spend a few hours splitting them all with the axe whilst Fionn got them stacked up.
We kept up a good pace for a couple of weeks and then a new wwoofer arrived. James, from England, was very new to this and hadn’t been away from home before so we decided to stay on the farm for a few extra weeks so that we could teach him the jobs and make sure he was ok before we left.



13 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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During this time, our friend Kat (Nightpheonix here) came to visit us She flew over from Scotland, spent a week with us before heading south to Oslo. We all had a cracking time hiking, working, and camping.



17 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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Here is a small write up I copy and pasted from another thread of our night out in a wee cave.


I came across the wee cave on my last overnighter the other week whilst exploring and hunting for burls. I have been itching to spend a night in it ever since! This week we have been four on the farm; myself, Fionn, another worker James and our friend Kat over on a visit. So me, Kat, and James decided to go up for a night as Fionn didn’t fancy it and wanted to stay and look after the animals. James had never been camping before so we were determined to give him a memorable night out.

We set off early in the morning and began the trek up to the top of HagaÅsen; A nice steep hike up through thick spruce forest, rocky crags, and thick stands of birch.


P1280303 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr


P1280296 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

I never got any pictures of the cave before we turned it into a home, as we started work as soon as we got up there. We gathered plenty of spruce branches and made a comfy mattress by weaving them all together, and using an Alder tree as a step. We built a heat reflecting wall using alder and birch poles lashed together with spruce roots, gathered rocks for a fireplace, firewood from some wind-fallen spruce trees, and Kat knocked up a nice pot hook for the fire. All nice and homely!

building the wall


P1280162 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

with the wall built it was nice and hidden from view


CIMG4379 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr


CIMG4376 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr


CIMG4381 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Preparing the fire to get a brew on. Never had a clue James was even there until I saw this picture the next day.


P1280178 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

I didn’t take any fire strikers with me to Norway, but had matches and some firelighters I made the night before from toilet roll and shoe dubbin. I wanted to keep it simple to teach James how to light a fire.


CIMG4402 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

After a brew and getting some of our kit sorted out it was time to relax and enjoy the view. Hard to see in the photos, but the view from the cave is surrounded by snow topped mountains and thick forest.


CIMG4387 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr


CIMG4386 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

We settled in for the evening and I got dinner on. It was a mixture of left over chilli from the previous night with added veg and spices to make fajitas with cheese.


CIMG4384 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr



I had brewed up a batch of ginger beer for the trip but we decided not to take it in the end. Fionn had also taught James how to make marsh mallow earlier in the week, so he made a batch to take up the hill. We gave him some knife tips and got to work making a toasting fork each. Very tasty stuff!


CIMG4392 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Had a nice roaring fire most of the night, got some cracking pictures playing around with camera settings until the wind picked up too much throwing sparks into the cave so we let the fire die out and settled in for the night.


CIMG4401 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

All toasty in our snugpak bags. Black bin liners kept the bottoms dry through the night. And the all important rucksack barrier to stop us getting too cosy!


P1280266 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

We had a nice quiet night with some showers but we were dry enough in the cave bar a few drips. Kat was up a few times but me and James slept right through. We got up just in time to see a nice sunrise come up over the mountains. What a view to wake up to


P1280271 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

We got up and had a few brews and hearty breakfast of mackerel on toast


P1280242 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

We packed all our kit and tidied up the area a bit. We decided to leave our setup standing as it was all made from natural materials and is off the beaten track so it may provide some fond memories for others in the future. This area is also popular with the deer, we found tracks, signs, and spoor everywhere so we are hoping some deer will find our spruce bed comfy should they need it

We also found this gorgeous little guy before we left


CIMG4404 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

And last a group shot after a nice chilled night


P1280281 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Soon after our night out Kat went on her way, and several days later it was time for us to move on leaving the farm in the hands of James and a French woofer who arrived a day before we left.

Our time at Tysseland was a mixed experience. We had the freedom to run a farm, regulate our own workload, have friends over, and explore the surrounding country as much as we liked. The downside was that the host was rarely there. We often just communicated on the telephone which made things difficult when we had problems with the house. Such as the time all the fuses blew and I had to go talk to an old neighbour about fixing them as the Norwegian fuses are strange! I managed to hold my own in a conversation about the fuses in Norsk as the old fella didn’t speak a word of English but it was some time before we managed to fix the problem. When Michael was around we managed to get on just fine, but we were not so inspired by his vision of farming.

What we really gained from this, was working together and finding our own roles. When it came to the livestock, I defer to Fionn and she takes command so that we have one leader that everyone can follow. When we worked in the forest, we switched the roles. This way we learned a lot from each other, and both gained a lot more experience in our roles. We also fell in love with Ink, Michaels Australian cattle dog. He was one of the kindest dogs we have ever encountered and just steals your heart!

After six weeks of taking it easy at our own pace we were ready for something more aggressive, and we were soon to find it!

To be continued in the next post down...

 

[Dreadhead]

GodJord

Hard work we wanted, and hard work we got! At the start of March we made our way north of Bergen to GodJord farm, near a town called Manger. The farm is owned and run by Børje Møster, a man of immense energy and passionate about the natural world. Børje has spent half his life on the sea as a skipper and in the navy, and now uses his farm to teach various outdoor activities to schools, and also holds free-diving and boating courses. It was here we built and sailed a leather stone-age boat. But first I shall start with the farm.

Børje owned two dozen chickens, a dozen rabbits, half a dozen geese, ten goats, two sheep, a dozen ducks, and a cat. Our work was mixed between caring for the animals, teaching groups of school kids archery and animal care, making stone-age clothing, and building the boat. The pace was fast, we dumpster dived everyday for most of our food, and we were always busy! Also on the farm was a French woofer; Gautier, Børjes foster son Daniel, and a local part-time woofer Cato who came to the farm instead of school.

2 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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23 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

We had some crazy days at GodJord. Over the course of 7 weeks we slaughtered several sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, and geese. Fionn got a lot of practice skinning and butchering! It was fascinating watching the Chief separate the seal blubber from the skin with a stone-age knife he found free-diving, it worked perfectly!

And so we come to the boat building and sailing. I submitted a specific trip report last month which I have copy and pasted in from HERE

This spring we have successfully built and sailed a leather and wooden stone-age boat here on the west coast of Norway. I thought I would share my experience with you all
It is Børjes dream to build a stone age camp in this area together with a team of archaeologists, and so the boat project was started to raise awareness and get people interested in the stone age.

The boat is an experimental build, designed by Børje with help from archaeologists and from his seafaring experience. It is as true to form as we can hope for, as very little evidence remains of stone age boats like this in Norway.

The boat is designed as a catamaran with a main hull 12 metres long, and a shorter side rigger attached via a central platform. It is made with a pine keel and frame, all steam bent into place and secured with hemp and sealskin ropes, with a body of elkskin that has been sewn together and stretched over the hull and soaked in fish oil. There are two masts in the main hull for the four sails, and interestingly a double steering oar system which is a joy to steer in rough conditions.

When we arrived on the farm, most of the main hull had been completed, but on day one we began building the side rigger and from there continued with the project until it was finished and we were ready to set sail!

Here are some pictures of the building process we were involved with.

1 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Our first day working with the side rigger

2 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Tying the frame together with Gautier

3 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Oiling the frame

4 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Stretching and glueing skins together for the hull

8 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Stitching the skins together from the inside to hold them in place

6 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Stitching the skins together

7 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Inside the side rigger

9 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

10 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
We begin work on the main hull making an elk skin spray deck for the bow

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

12 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

13 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Making platform connections which move on a pivot to be flexible

14 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
She takes shape!

15 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
The out rigger finished and sealed

16 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

17 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Moving them down to the sea

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19 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

20 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
working on the sails


So we finished the wooden frame, keel, and platform connections on the side rigger. The most important joints were fitted together using oak rods like nails. We then oiled all the wood and fitted elkskins over it all. These were glued together into two pieces (bow and stern) and stitched with a machine as we didn’t have the time.
When they were finished we put them back on and stretched them together using rope so that they overlapped very tightly. We then saddle stitched them together. Another layer of wood was added around the rim of the side rigger to protect it and then after making the platform connections, we stretched the elkskins over the entire side rigger to make her fully water tight.
This involved an entire week saddle stitching on patches and sleeves and adding more fish oil to the whole hull. A four metre section of the upper side rigger can be lifted off so that we can get inside to pump out water and effect repairs. Man was Børje happy to have a leathersmith on board to do all the stitching!

With the side rigger finished we fitted her to the main hull and fixed other jobs here and there like the rope systems, the side platform (not in any pictures here) and a dozen tiny things you can’t even see! The whole process involved a lot of problem solving, being an experimental project there was a new challenge every day we had to discuss endlessly to come up with the solution.

After giving both hulls a coating of tar she was ready to be tested on the sea! So we dismantled the platform connections, loaded both hulls onto trailers and drove them down to the local marina. This took several days in itself as it was such a delicate job. Once on the water we fitted them together again, made some final repairs and got ready to set sail. This involved 3 nights of working on the sails until 2 am.

Before the trip we briefly done some publicity for the local media, getting dressed up in stone age clothing we had been making over the previous weeks and talking to them about the project . The other focus of this project was to protest the mining pollution in the Sognefjord, so we had a banner with us that we hoisted between the sails when we reached port to get people interested. You can read about it in a newspaper article HERE (in norwegian)

Fionn also performed the naming ceremony whereby she named the vessel Havelgen (the sea elk) and poured a horn of wine over the figurehead and wished it many happy journeys

 

[Dreadhead]

Sailing

Building a leather boat is one thing, but sailing it is quite another! Luckily our fearless leader Børje had enough experience for us all and we followed his every order without question. Besides myself the other crew was Daniel from the Netherlands, a previous wwoofer with sailing experience. Gautier from france, who has been with us on the farm working on the project. And finally Jan from Norway, a freediver for Frivannsliv, who was filming the trip for a documentary. Fionn was happier staying to look after the farm as the goats were ready to give birth and she was needed.

We all had stone-age clothing that I had mostly made for us, and some made by previous woofers, but also modern gear for safety such as floating suits, life jackets, flares, and a two man kayak trailing behind us.

Our plan? Go where the wind takes us and enjoy every minute!

Day 1.

Børje assigned us each a place on the boat, each with its own job. We were new and inexperienced, but learned very fast our roles and how to interact with each other to get the job done.

My place was at the front of the boat just behind the front mast. It was my job to rig the Row sail (the square sail made from reindeer leather), the Stor (big) sail behind the mast, and the triangular folk sail at the front, and to have control of the anchor should we need it in a hurry.

We left a few hours after noon and sailed for around 6 or 7 hours south, our first real taste of Havelgen. It was really exciting for us to finally see how the boat performed, and completely relaxing watching the Norwegian coast pass by. It was a fine first day, everyone learning their place and we were all knackered by the end of it! We found a small harbour for the night and got the lavvuu up. With an open fire inside we had our share of meat and boiled Jerusalem artichoke and settled in.

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
The chief

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Jan

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

8 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Our first days route from Manger to just west of Knarvik

Here is a short video of her pouring through the waves https://flic.kr/p/njrchM


Day 2.
Still brimming with enthusiasm we headed out around noon as the wind was perfect. We headed south again, sailing past Bergen, down to Klokkarvik where we moored for the night. This was a relaxing day as we made it to the harbour in good time so had the rest of the day to get the camp set up and work on the boat.

By the second day we were recognizing some practical problems with the boat, the first being that the side platform was too long and kept catching the waves. So we borrowed a chainsaw, cut away half a metre, and used it as firewood to cook up some venison over the fire.

We set up camp near the harbour, next to an abandoned school house. Klokkarvik proved a very friendly place and we had several visitors over the evening. The first was the harbour manager who let us borrow the chainsaw and some other tools for fixing up the boat.
The second was an interesting fellow who brought an old whale fishing crossbow he had made. He was so excited he had an audience to share it with, and we had some laughs sitting in the lavvuu listening to his stories of the whale hunt and his Scottish ancestors. Before he left we all went out and took some pot shots at the old school house for some fun. Luckily this would not be the last time we crossed paths.
The third visitor was an old friend of Børjes, who brought us some extra rope and a few bottles of homemade blueberry wine. That went down a treat with everyone before night fell I can assure you!

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Børje, Daniel, Gautier, Jan.

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
The old school house

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

12 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
The route south to Klokkarvik

Day 3

By the third day we were starting to feel tired and passed the morning working on the boat. We improved the central platform a little and carved some simple hooks to help rig the sail ropes better with less friction.

It was then a long day sailing south yet again to Bekkjarvik; A somewhat posh harbour. We rigged the banner up straight away and were met by several people interested in the cause but most just thought us crazy. We were unsure about where to sleep so hit the pub to work out our aches and pains instead. After a few pints it was nightfall and we found a small stand of trees tucked away to rig up the lavvuu and grab a rough night’s sleep.

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

3 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Daniel fixing the flag pole

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
The coast guard shadowing us for several Kilometres

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Here you can see the improved platform and one of the rigging hooks

6 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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The route south to Bekkjarvik

short video https://flic.kr/p/nhJYCL

Day 4

The longest day of all! We set sail early, and the wind was so good we managed to retrace our steps over the last 3 days and sail all the way home in just 9 hours. For the long journey we rotated the roles every few hours to give each other rests, if you weren’t steering or rigging ropes you were sleeping. I was lucky enough to be on the steering oars as we sailed northwards past Bergen, what a feeling!

1 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Bekkjarvik harbour

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It was such a long day and we were so shattered already that a rest period was needed. We also had some big problems to fix on the boat, the main one being the hull leakage with the side rigger (named Calf the night before in the pub). So we spent the night at home on the farm. The next day we hauled the Calf out the water and realised why she was leaking so much. There was a 16mm hole through the keel we had forgotten to plug with an oak rod!

After fixing the Calf, me and Daniel built a solid floor in the main hull as before we had draped sealskins over the bottom of the hull, but it was too easy to step between the frame onto the leather hull. Gautier made more rigging hooks, and the chief made some changes to the steering oars as they had been twisting slightly over the previous days. As we were working away we had an unexpected visit from the chap with the crossbow who came to see more of the boat and have a good chat it was great.

7 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Our new floor!

9 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr


We spent another night on the farm. It was then that Jan announced he could not continue for a recurring back injury. We all knew how tough this was for him, as he was so full of energy and really brought the group together, but he made the right decision for his health. Jan was gutted because he had been filming the trip for the documentary, but he gave us the filming gear and Gautier took over for the rest of the trip hoping to catch some nice shots for Jan. We would also miss Jans never ending supply of chocolate morale!

Day 5

The trip continues here with day 5. This second half of the trip was intended to be a more focussed stone age trip. Funny how things turn out!

We said our sorry goodbyes to Jan and headed back out to sea. We were all clad in our stone-age clothing and enjoyed a few hours sailing west in beautiful sunshine. We found a nice natural harbour bereft of people which suited us just fine. We dropped the anchor and set up camp.

It was very strange just being four people now, but today we would relax and enjoy the day on land. Daniel made a hammock from some netting he found washed up. We also set up some hobo handlines and done some stone age fishing but sadly no bites. We spent a nice evening relaxing in the lavvuu on reindeer skins drinking Børjes holy mushroom tea (chaga).

1 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Daniels flotsam hammock

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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Me and the chief fishing

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Day 6

Good wind today meant we were all feeling the windchill, so the chief decided we would switch to modern gear as it was to be a day of hard sailing north. I was lucky enough to be on the steering oars again this day as we sailed past the mouth of Sognefjordan. You get such a kick when the wind slings you forward.

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Daniels interesting clothing combination!

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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12 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
The route north



Although we were in good spirits, we were also all wet and cold and drained of energy after the sailing. I had only brought my stone age goatskin socks and simple leather shoes so my feet were really feeling it. So when we finally pulled into hardbakke, Børje treated us to a nice meal in a greek restaurant and booked us the night into a hotel. We then met some of the locals who invited us back to their party on a balcony overlooking the harbour. We were really living it up in the stone age!

After a long night it was good to have a nice bed and shower. I fell asleep with my shoes drying on the heater and was woken up at 4am with my room full of smoke. OOPS! The goatskin socks were fine, but the leather outer shoes had burned almost to a crisp. Luckily I woke up just in time to get the windows open and avert any panic!

Day 7

After a good night we were nice and relaxed in the morning to do some odd jobs on the boat tidying up ropes, fixing the flag poles etc. And then the locals came to see us off as we paddled out of the harbour back in our stone-age clothes and to the sound of our skin drums and the horn blowing.

After two hours or so paddling free of the harbour it was evident we were getting nowhere. We dropped the anchor and decided to relax and wait for the wind. We had our fill of smoked mackerel and dried sheep leg we had been living on for the past week, took some pictures, and then put the paddles back in the water to try and catch some wind. We caught enough to stop paddling, but ended up mostly drifting for around 4 hours, relaxing in the sun. We rigged Daniels hammock up between the masts so the chief could have a kip.

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

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Smoked mackerel

9 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Dried sheeps leg

Digital Camera by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
cosy goatskin socks

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12 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr
Gautier assuming his usual role

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eating mackerel

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18 by HamishOdinson, on Flickr

We had a deadline to be back for Monday and as we were getting nowhere decided to call it quits as there was no wind forecast for the next two days. Børje called in a friend to tow us to a nearby harbour and we took the ferry home to Manger.

Back to landlubbers

Although we were glad to be back, what an absolutely amazing week it had been! None of us knew what to expect from the trip, and all our plans and ideas were thrown out of the window. Everything we had prepared for meant nothing. Havelgen made her own fate, and our voyage had its own tale because of that.

The main highlight for me was building the boat, as a craftsman it is a huge accomplishment under my belt and one I am incredibly proud of. Steering her past Bergen and across Sognefjordan was magnificent, feeling her power through the sails and the oars, and the freedom that comes from guiding such a beautiful vessel

There were so many unexpected turns of events on the trip that they make it even more unique, especially shooting a whale hunting crossbow at an old school! What also made it special was learning how to sail from Børje, and having a good crew who I could rely on.

It is almost time for us to leave the farm here, and I am still amazed at how much we have accomplished in such short a time. I will never forget this adventure and hope to return in the future for another voyage with Børje as he intends to keep sailing Havelgen as much as possible.

 

[Dreadhead]

Eastwards!

The last farm in our adventure is Flåm Farm, situated in...well....Flåm. A three hour bus journey east from Bergen took us through higher mountain and deeper fjords than what we had come across so far. Flåm is the typical post card of Norway, awe inspiring in its beauty.

Our hosts were Norwegian Terje, his Romanian wife Dana and their son Konrad. They own one of the oldest farms in Flåm, and have a herd of over forty sheep and a lovely Collie. We were instantly struck by their kindness and we were made to feel right at home with their relaxed manor and having our own cabin for our stay was luxury! We spent our time mostly looking after the sheep during lambing season. They are an old hardy breed so rarely needed any help though several of the sheep had three lambs and so rejected one of them. These were removed from the mothers and we hand reared them, quickly falling in love!
We also split and stacked four to five years worth of firewood for them which was a big job they needed done. In between this we took plenty of trips around the surrounding areas and I spent a lot of time with one of our neighbours who is a leader of the Gudvangen Vikings. He is eager to have me back next year for the Viking market, so plans are afoot!
We also had two of Danas Romanian friends come over to the farm for a fortnight. They didn’t speak a word of English, but we spent a lot of time with them as kindness is a language everyone understands and we were happy in each others company.

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During our last week we were lucky to be offered the use of their summer cabin in the mountains. We spent three days up there soaking it all in. It was a perfect way to end our journey and really let us relax before having to get packed up ready to depart. After our goodbyes we took the train from Flåm up to Myrdal, which passes the farm. We got some great pictures and managed one last wave goodbye to Dana and Terje. From Myrdal it was a train to Bergen for the night and then our flight back to the UK!

9 Months has been and gone in a blur. We have experienced and learned so much about ourselves and the direction we want to take our life now. It has been the journey of a lifetime, but now it is onto the next part of our journey wherever that may be! We would like to say a big thank you to all of you who have supported us and followed our progress, this wouldn’t have been possible without you! Hopefully we will see you all soon around the fire

 

[Imagedude]

Looks like it was a great adventure...

 

[greensurfingbear]

been following you on FB mate and the images and wee stories have been inspirational.

welcome back to blighty

 

[MartinK9]

Fantastic, thanks to both of you for sharing your adventures.

 

[Clouston98]

Absolutely fantastic report! Brilliant!

 

[MartiniDave]

Wow! Just bloody wow!

How amazing. Thanks for taking the time to write it up and share Hamish.

Dave

 

[Dave]

Wonderful photos. Flam looks amazing.

 

[Skaukraft]

Looks like you had a great time.
You two have probably seen more of Norway than I have.
Hope to see you again soon.

 

[Qwerty]

A wonderful saga and some easily the most beautiful country in the world!

 

[JohnC]

Quite something! If only this kind of thing was available as a TV series instead of some of the recent stuff! Very interesting about the different people communicating and working despite the language differences..

 

[Stringmaker]

Fabulous write up and photos; many thanks for the effort involved in sharing it.

Life will never be the same again after that, it must have changed you both forever I should think.

 

[Gooner]

Excellent write up and good photographs, it sounds like the experience of a lifetime, thanks for sharing and good luck in obtaining your own small holding

 

[Haggis]

Great photos, and I can imagine great fun as well,,,

 

[Harvestman]

That has to be a completely life-changing experience. Good on you for going for it when you had the chance.

 

[CallsignSam]

Superb trip report Hamish, looks like an amazing experience!

 

[Pete11]

I was smiling all through reading this, thank you. You guys listened to your inner heart and followed it, well done.

So many people exist in their lives, you both have experienced it, huge difference. I think you have also laid a very strong foundation, a strong one that will be built on.

Kudos


Pete

 

[jimbo75]

I was smiling all through reading this, thank you. You guys listened to your inner heart and followed it, well done.

So many people exist in their lives, you both have experienced it, huge difference. I think you have also laid a very strong foundation, a strong one that will be built on.

Kudos


Pete

what he said. With bells on.
p.s. I hope you picked up some cool new ideas for leatherwork? Your stuff will have a certain prestige to it now I suspect!
top stuff all round. Really enjoyed following on Facebook. Pictures are amazing.